Noise pollution and conservation

In the past 100 years, human activities have increased dramatically on both local and global scales, and as a result, levels of anthropogenic noise have risen in many habitats. Elevated noise may have adverse effects for animals, including avoidance, triggering of stress, acoustic masking of cues used to find prey and to avoid predators, and disrupting the exchange of acoustic signals. We focus particularly on the effect on signaling, which has only recently become appreciated, yet may have severe effects. Many species use acoustic signals in survival and reproduction, for example, to avoid predators or to find mating partners. When noise masks these biologically important signals, and thus impairs effective communication, it can negatively affect the animals’ breeding biology and thus the viability of populations. Many species are less abundant near anthropogenic noise sources, but researchers are only just beginning to identify the implications of increasing noise pollution for animal populations. We need to increase our understanding of how anthropogenic noise reduces the maximum distance at which one animal can recognize the acoustic signals of another in its natural habitat. Future studies that link anthropogenic noise with reproductive success are urgently needed to develop reasonable action plans for noise abatement, before the voices of many animals vanish forever.